1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system and method for generating charts, and more particularly, a system and method for generating intelligent visual object charts which are indicia-coded and which comprise comparator lines for facilitating immediate interpretation and review of data presented in the charts.
2. Description of Related Art
For sometime, there have been programs to generate charts, graphs and spreadsheets to visually represent data. One commonly used program is the Excel software program available from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. One of the drawbacks of the programs of the past is that, while they generated visual object charts and spreadsheets, they did not use any means or indicia for identifying whether data represented by the visual objects in the chart was favorable, not favorable, or neutral.
The prior art systems sometimes generated colored visual objects in the chart, but the color was only used to distinguish one visual object from another. There was no indicia or color used to illustrate whether the visual objects, or more particularly, whether the data represented by the visual objects was favorable, unfavorable, neutral or the like. In short, the visual objects were not encoded with indicia showing, for example, a company's performance relative to known or predetermined thresholds.
Another problem with prior art systems is that they did not readily provide comparator information for providing means for quickly and conveniently comparing the data represented by the visual objects to, for example, an industry standard. Thus, while lines were sometimes used in conjunction with visual objects, it was often difficult to interpret the data at points where the lines intersected the visual objects because the line typically had a slope at the points where the line intersected the visual object.
What is needed, therefore, is a system and method for generating intelligent charts having indicia-coded visual objects which are coded based on predetermined thresholds. What is also needed is a system and method for generating comparator lines which are easy to interpret at points where the lines intersect the visual objects in the chart.